Like many racers out there, Runge started his racing career in go-karts and his first race was at Saddle Back Raceway in which he achieved Rookie of the Year honors and capped off his rookie season with a second place finish in the series points.
From there, at the young age of 14, young Mitch Runge took the seat behind the wheel of a 600 horsepower winged sprint car and raced the Rookie class at I-90 Speedway in Hartford, South Dakota and quickly went to victory lane as he won his first race with only 2 shows under his belt.
Runge soon became one of the drivers to watch as he won Rookie of the Year at the “Home of the Professionals” of Huset’s Speedway in 2001, claimed 2 championship titles in 2006 at Huset’s Speedway and Lake County Speedway and also won the 2006 National Motorsports Racing Association Championship. In 2007, Mitch was honor at Huset’s Speedway as the 410 Rookie of the Year.